Dawn Dance Weekend - Staff

In addition to our fantastic regional talent we are delighted to have the following headliners:

The Great Bear Trio is quickly becoming one of the most exciting and talked about contra dance bands in the nation. With a strong and growing fan base in their native northeast, Great Bear is now bringing their unique brand of high-energy folk music to festival stages, concert halls and dance floors across the country. Brothers Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand are both still in their teens but display a mature and seasoned musicality beyond their years. The core of Great Bear's instrumentation has always been twin fiddles and piano (ably supplied by mother Kim) but the line up is frequently augmented by mandolins, guitars, banjo and an assortment of percussion including the African djembe and the Australian didgeridoo. Andrew and Noah compose and arrange the majority of Great Bear's material, drawing heavily on Celtic and Appalachian fiddling traditions for their melodies but with plenty of room for improvisation and an occasional alt-rock or world beat groove creeping into the rhythm section. There are also some new original songs in their repertoire now, a welcome addition to their well-known instrumental skills. They have recorded three self-produced albums including Driftage (GBR CD002), Andrew and Noah's first duo project, which received national recognition when the boys performed live on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion in 2004. Great Bear's well-carved niche in the contra dance community has already ensured Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand a prominent place in the broader future of folk music and with years of performances and recordings ahead, who knows what could happen

Foxfire is Karen Axelrod, piano, and Daron Douglas, fiddle. Their fresh takes on the old tunes have led to extraordinary dancing from California to Copenhagen. Foxfire plays at CDSS summer camps, at Brasstown, and Playford balls and contradance festivals throughout the year. They brighten the English country dance repertoire and (in the words of the introduction to the 1651 _Dancing Master_ ) "much commend this Art to be Excellent for Recreation, making the body active and strong, graceful in deportment and very much beseeming a Gentleman." (We beseem Ladies too.)
Come gypsy, allemande, and do inspired footing to the noble, lighthearted, and mysterious music of Foxfire.
Foxfire is the proud parent of a new CD, "The Introduction," released in the fall of 2007.

For the special occasion of this year's Dawn Dance Weekend, Foxfire is fortunate to be joined by their friend Paul Oorts who comes with his bag: banjo, cittern, guitar, mandolin, and accordion. Romantic, driving, and outlandish. Paul is from a small town near Antwerp in Belgium. He has delved extensively into primary manuscripts, mainly 19th century, from the dance masters and Carilloneurs (bell tower maestros) of Flanders. Paul has become an ambassador of Belgian folk music to America, teaching these old tunes in workshops at festivals. Paul plays regularly for contra and English country dances with the groups Goldcrest and Gigmeisters, conducts "Carillion" a dulcimer orchestra and in his spare time, Dr. Oorts teaches French and Italian at Peabody Music Conservatory!

Joseph Pimentel is a New England native recently settled in Houston, Texas. As a popular caller at dance events throughout the country, he draws on a broad repertoire of contra, English country, and community dances. His calling combines clear teaching, discriminating taste in dances, and respect for tradition. He is the author of numerous popular contra dances which have also found their way around the country. He has been an active dance organizer in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio, and is on the national board of the Country Dance and Song Society.

Susan Kevra lives in Nashville, Tennessee, teaches dance and plays music on both coasts and both sides of the Atlantic. She began calling and teaching traditional dances in 1991, appearing in New England grange halls in tiny, snow-covered villages as well as major festivals and dance camps throughout America. She spent 2000 - 2001 in France and traveling throughout Western Europe teaching contras, squares and English Country Dancing - and learning French dances. Susan is noted for her charm, wit and respect for the traditions she shares. Dancers on both sides of the Atlantic appreciate her clear teaching and diverse repertoire of singing squares, Western patter calls, contras and English Country dances. She has choreographed a number of well loved contra and square dances and is the author of "Trip to Phan Reel" and "The Country of Marriage." A fine clarinetist and singer, Susan is also a member of the English Country Dance Band, "Meeting House." Her calling and singing can be heard on the critically acclaimed CD, "Full Swing" featuring some of New England's finest contra dance musicians. The CD contains a lengthy and entertaining booklet she wrote tracing the roots of New England contra dancing and a guide for new callers. Susan teaches French and American Studies at Vanderbilt University, and in the fall of 2007, taught a new course, "American Social History through dance."